To help more investigators face their challenges in the fight against child sexual abuse, Griffeye is reinforcing its U.S. presence – growing its team on the ground and establishing an official branch office in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Heading up the team as COO is John Madsen, a veteran law-enforcement investigator and Griffeye Head of Training. The move represents a major step for the company – and the level of impact it can now have.
John Madsen, COO Griffeye Inc.
Law enforcement in the United States is under tremendous pressure in the face of rising CSA (child sexual abuse) cases. With backlogs growing bigger every day, the need for technically advanced tools to speed up investigations and support law enforcement is greater than ever.
For years, Griffeye’s dedicated U.S. team has traveled coast to coast, helping investigators implement Griffeye solutions into their workflow. But with nearly 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States, a stronger presence was needed for Griffeye to advance its mission, “To serve those who protect,” on a larger scale.
By building the team and opening a branch office in Fort Collins, Colorado – Griffeye’s first physical location outside its Swedish headquarters – the company can now broaden its reach. As a result, more agencies will have the tools to quickly identify and rescue victims of ongoing sexual abuse, and also shield investigators from exposure to abuse-related imagery.
The move is especially timely, since the increasing complexity of CSA investigations poses a major challenge for law enforcement. John Madsen, Griffeye’s new COO in the U.S., says:
“The landscape in computer forensics has changed significantly since I started my training in 2006. Few tools were available and the process was fairly manual. Now both the number of investigators and resources are increasing – although still outpaced by the amount of data and complexity.
The challenges that today’s forensic investigators are up against include the rise in CyberTips, the overall volume of CSAM through hands-on and P2P investigations, and the variety of media origins.”
“We’ll be ready to quickly serve organizations of all sizes in every U.S. time zone.”
An experienced leader
Before joining the team at Griffeye, John had a long career within law enforcement. The last 10 years were spent as a Task Force Commander for North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC), a federally funded partnership at the state and local level. In his role, John was responsible for selecting and securing funding for the tools used in investigations. He was also in charge of managing forensic operations, undercover travel operations, victim ID and training events.
As Griffeye’s COO in the U.S., John will oversee operations as well as build and lead the team. His experience as Griffeye’s Head of Training and as a former ICAC Commander makes John well prepared to take on the new challenge as COO.
A higher level of impact
Fort Collins, the home of Colorado State University and Griffeye’s new office, is a vibrant city and tech hub at the base of the Rocky Mountains. It is a short drive from Denver, in close proximity to the airport and infrastructure.
With the new office as a base, the growing team has been given a clear mandate: to support American law enforcement, achieve a high level of impact and reach out to new customers in the U.S.
“Our team in Fort Collins will be able to support every aspect of obtaining and using the Griffeye toolset, from assistance with existing products to new installations, trainings, quotes, and workflow advice. We’ll be ready to quickly serve organizations of all sizes in every U.S. time zone, whether they are large-scale operations or one-person shops,” says John Madsen.
This is all part of Griffeye’s unwavering commitment to its mission – a key reason John joined the team. He explains:
“Early on in my career a great mentor shared some simple advice that I have attempted to incorporate into everything I’ve done: If you have knowledge, share it. This is fundamentally why Griffeye offers complimentary online training, because basic tools and skills should be available to everyone. More than any other vendor I’ve dealt with, Griffeye has embraced this altruistic mindset. The primary goal is making sure investigators have the tools they need to do their job as efficiently as possible. That has always been a very attractive quality, and that is what brought me to work for Griffeye.”
The bigger U.S. presence also represents a new phase in Griffeye’s business growth, and John expectsthis to open up new opportunities for the future:
“I believe this is going to ramp things up, not just in terms of support, but also in terms of development. We don’t want to just be responsive to customer needs; we want to anticipate them. And now we’ll also be able to draw from a talent pool that may not have been as accessible from the headquarters in Sweden.”
“Griffeye’s mission To serve those who protect is reflected in every area of the company and ingrained into the culture.”
Building a successful team
The first positions to fill at the new U.S. location are sales agents, customer success representatives and sales engineer support personnel.
“We want to make sure there are no gaps in our customers’ workflow. The Customer Success Representative will act as a matchmaker and ensure our customers have everything they need – whether it’s training, sales, tech or install support,” says John.
The new COO is adamant about safeguarding Griffeye’s mission-driven culture:
“I want to make sure that the company culture that has made us successful becomes a core element of the growing U.S. team.
The importance of being a mission-driven organization is something I know first-hand from my experience leading a Task Force. Griffeye’s mission “To serve those who protect” is reflected in every area of the company and ingrained into the culture.”
With the mission leading the way, Griffeye will continue to scale up its operations and aim for ever-higher levels of impact. As it does so, the company will keep on doing what it does best: delivering the solutions that its customers urgently need.
